Hard to trust many doctors

[cldlhd]

This isn't actually correct though. You can remove conditions, you just need your doctor's approval. MyChart even offers the ability to do it all within the app. Obviously, the original record won't be removed, nor should it be.

In my case, my cardiologist specifically told me "you don't have coronary artery disease" at my last visit with him, and he based that opinion on the results of the cath. He also said that if I had it, even if it wasn't dire, they would have bypassed the artery while they were in there. So the fact that they chose not to bypass any is pretty good evidence that I don't have CAD, I think. But short of examining every artery with IVUS, I don't think there's a way to tell for certain. But I trust a cath more than I trust a guess based on a previous heart attack when I know I had significant valve calcification! So I'm going with no CAD.

See this is what I was curious about regarding my situation. They said I had CAD in the wall of my arteries but the cardiac calf showed they were clear so I asked Dr Bavaria if they would do a bypass while they were in there doing my aneurysm and he said that they wanted because it wasn't necessary

 

[Chuck C]

Seems like there's always a Seinfeld reference for whatever the situation is

I think between Seinfeld and Monty Python, we've got coverage for every conceivable situation that humans encounter.

 

[MarkZ]

See this is what I was curious about regarding my situation. They said I had CAD in the wall of my arteries but the cardiac calf showed they were clear so I asked Dr Bavaria if they would do a bypass while they were in there doing my aneurysm and he said that they wanted because it wasn't necessary

And I think that's where IVUS and some new technologies being developed come in. Apparently CAD is difficult to diagnose! There are some optical methods being developed that can distinguish between thickening, plaques, and plaques in danger of rupture. There's some discussion about OCT here (although it focuses on stent placement): Intravascular OCT in PCI - American College of Cardiology

OCT versus IVUS

Although IVUS and intravascular OCT have similar sensitivity for detecting calcium, intravascular OCT has high tissue penetration on calcium, which allows assessment of calcium thickness. A shows thick calcium; C shows thin calcium. Calcium on IVUS is visualized as a bright superficial reflection followed by acoustic shadow that prevents thickness assessment (B and D).

And as micro-OCT starts to take shape and replace OCT, and gets some assistance from machine learning, I think we'll see some methods to diagnose CAD more accurately in the near future. As with most things, they'll start in Europe if they haven't already.

 

[cldlhd]

Just found out my 57 year old cardiologist died June 25th after a year long battle with lung cancer. I saw her last August when apparently she already knew about it. I remember telling my wife how she seemed frail and older and also how much warmer and friendlier she seemed. In hindsight maybe she knew it was bad and that made her a bit more sentimental with her patients. Who knows.

 

[Chuck C]

Just found out my 57 year old cardiologist died June 25th after a year long battle with lung cancer. I saw her last August when apparently she already knew about it. I remember telling my wife how she seemed frail and older and also how much warmer and friendlier she seemed. In hindsight maybe she knew it was bad and that made her a bit more sentimental with her patients. Who knows.

Very sorry to hear that. That is very young.

My doctor passed away last year from Covid-19, he was in his early 60s. He was a very caring man and refused to turn away any patient, even if they had Covid symptoms. He eventually contracted Covid from one of his patients. He was the best doctor I've had and the one who discovered my murmur and referred me to cardiology, which led to the discovery of my BAV.

 

[cldlhd]

Very sorry to hear that. That is very young.

My doctor passed away last year from Covid-19, he was in his early 60s. He was a very caring man and refused to turn away any patient, even if they had Covid symptoms. He eventually contracted Covid from one of his patients. He was the best doctor I've had and the one who discovered my murmur and referred me to cardiology, which led to the discovery of my BAV.

I'm sorry to hear about your doctor. Yeah it's kind of weird I mean when she first diagnosed my BAV and aneurysm she came off to me as pretty cold and not great regarding bedside manner . She seemed to get a little better over the years and I'm convinced that last visit her own illness was the reason for her much warmer demeanor. So reading her obituary I found out she was into taking care of rescue dogs and flew to different places of the world to donate medical care and time. I also read that she graduated from Harvard at 21 and then went on to Duke, married with two kids etc. So I guess it goes to show the old cliche is true "If you don't have your health you don't have anything".

 

[Kathmack]

I just turned 66 and have been diagnosed with severe AS. My symptoms are mild. Usually some chest tightness when I’m stressed and exerting. Mean gradient on echo 86 and av diam is 1.2. I feel my cardiologist who specializes in AVR is pushing me too soon to surgery so I went out on my own to find a surgeon who specializes in valve replacement surgery who had tremendous reviewed. I can walk two miles with some normal tiredness but. I thing major. Two questions... would you get surgery sooner than you needed too and what valve would you or have you received? I feel if I don’t do mechanical why not do tavr as there seems no difference in durability. I’m leaning mechanical if I do open heart because of the longevity. All replies welcome. Thanks.

Welcome to this forum! I had the TAVR about three months ago and so far so good. I elected to get the TAVR even though I really had no symptoms to speak of but my tests results were very concerning to the doctor. Since I am 79 I felt I should go ahead with the TAVR procedure. Best of luck to you!

 

[pellicle]

Since I am 79 I felt I should go ahead with the TAVR procedure

personally (for what it matters) I think that was about your best option and a choice well made.